Making Fiends (web cartoon)

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Making Fiends
Image:CharlotteMakingFiends.gif
Charlotte, a character in the cartoon
URL http://www.makingfiends.com
Type of site Adobe Flash comedy series
Available language(s) English, one episode is in Bulgarian
Owner Amy Winfrey
Created by Amy Winfrey
Launched June 3, 2003
Current status Active

Making Fiends is a Flash cartoon series by Amy Winfrey. It follows the interactions between Vendetta, a nasty, evil-hearted girl that regularly makes monsters called fiends, and Charlotte, a happy-go-lucky girl with every intention of making friends with Vendetta (thanks to her failure to realize that Vendetta despises her cheerful nature).

The site was first put up on June 3, 2003, and the series debuted with its first episode on July 14, 2003.[1] The series ended on November 6, 2006 at twenty-one episodes. Eventually, the site was was updated and one part of the site revealed she was working on a new project.[2]

Contents

[edit] Characters

Charlotte: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A blue, optimistic girl from Vermont who could be described as 'too friendly'; it is impossible for her to get upset. When Vendetta unleashes fiends onto her, Charlotte always ruins her plans by making the fiends do useful things. A running gag is that she sees projectiles thrown at her as gifts. Almost every episode includes her singing a song that she makes up. Charlotte has the uncanny ability to hold her breath for nine hours, and she does not like strawberries. She has a hamster named Buttons. She likes to sing about pencils, birds, Vendetta, and more. Charlotte is the only character in every webisode.

Vendetta: (Voiced by Aglaia Mortcheva) A green girl who makes fiends, both through stereotypical mad-scientist means and in the kitchen. She spends her time torturing the other children and using her giant bear-like hamster to get what she wants. In fact, she has complete run of the school because all the adults are afraid of her. She constantly tries to hurt Charlotte, but her schemes are always foiled by Charlotte's kindness. She seems to hate music and only eats clams, grape punch and beef jerky. Some of her fiends include a large red cat that is always scaring the students and a red bird that sits at Mr. Milk's desk and always seems to be intimidating him.

Mr. Milk: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) The teacher of Charlotte's class. He speaks in a nervous, disjointed monotone due to Vendetta's dominion, and is forced to do Vendetta's bidding out of fear of her. He is also afraid of the fanged red bird fiend that is constantly glaring at him. Mr. Milk is probably a take-off of either Caspar Milquetoast, a comic book character remarkably similar to him, or South Park's Herbert Garrison. In episode 14 we learn he has a tenor singing voice.

Marion: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A dark blue, overweight girl who sits next to Charlotte and talks quietly. Marion lost the class election in episode 12 to Marvin by 182 votes to one (Charlotte's vote).

Marvin: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) A dark green boy who almost always starts his sentences with 'my' (usually because his belongings are stolen from him), the only exceptions being 'Wonderful Wintery Day' and the April Fools Episode (due to the nature of the episode, however, Marvin still technically starts his 'sentence' with 'my'). He won the class president election after Vendetta & Grudge rigged the vote, but was punched by one of Vendetta's fiends and replaced by Vendetta herself.

Malachi: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) A dark grey boy. Some speculate that he is a Puritan because he speaks in complicated, Shakespeare-like phrases and refuses to sing because it is blasphemous. His dire cautions are ignored by Charlotte. During attendance he does not say 'here' or 'present'; instead, he says 'presenteth!' He also does not believe in electricity and thinks it is evil dark magic.

Maggie: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A grey girl who doesn't speak until episode 14, when she cogently remarks, "Charlotte's dumb."

Rubella: (Voiced by Elissa Calfin) Vendetta's new fiendish friend who resembles a very large girl. She eats non-edible food (like wood, glass and plaster) and talks in one- and two-word sentences. She is named after a disease of the same name. She replaced Grudge, because he gave her a music bear which Vendetta obviously dislikes.

Grudge: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) Vendetta's giant hamster. Grudge does not speak, but rather grunts and growls, and is Vendetta's constant sidekick. In episode 18 Grudge is replaced by Rubella, but is again accepted by Vendetta after helping her fend off her own wild fiends in episode 20.

Giant Kitty: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) Also called "Big Red Kitty" or "Hellcat". Vendetta's cat fiend whom Charlotte spends a lot of time with, much to Vendetta's dismay. Giant Kitty may be an homage to children's book and animated TV character Clifford the Big Red Dog. It has an insatiable appetite, as seen in episode 10. The Giant Kitty always closes its eyes when giving its distinctive meow. It doesn't like baths, but when it is brushed its contented purrs shake the whole school.

Buttons: Charlotte's pet hamster, her "favorite hamster in the whole world", first seen in episode 2 of season 1. He is also very scared of Vendetta and her fiends.

Buttons 2 (Scissors): A fiend Vendetta made for Charlotte that looks like a bird and can cut things with its scissorlike beak. Charlotte thinks it's a puppy, and makes it a good friend. Buttons 2 likes cutting up pink construction paper. He has a talent for making Valentines and rescuing Charlotte. It's real name is Scissors.

Mrs. Minty: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) One of Mr. Milk's substitutes. She refers to the classmates as "buttercups", "ducklings", and other diminutive terms of endearment. She kicks out Grudge with a newspaper and hands out tests. Her main debut is in episode 9 of season 1 and she is also seen in episodes 20 and 21, but does not talk.

Mort: Seen in episode 19 being picked up by an ice cream fiend. Despite the fact that he was only seen once, he will become more developed in the Nickelodeon series.

Other recurring characters include the lunch lady and the red frog fiend on the lunch counter.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season one

[edit] Season two

[edit] Extra

[edit] Nickelodeon's part in Making Fiends

Amy Winfrey has communicated publicly that Making Fiends will officially be a full length television show for Nickelodeon. According to Winfrey, it is still too early to say when episodes will start airing (although the June 2007 issue of Animation Magazine announced that it will be sometime in 2008). As part of Winfrey's agreement with Nickelodeon, she is no longer able to produce new Making Fiends merchandise to sell on her Web site. Once the limited remaining items had sold out, the website's gift shop was closed (indefinitely, or, until such time as their legal contract is void). The gift shop was reopened in late November 2007 to sell merchandise from Muffin Films and Big Bunny.

[edit] Notable differences between online and Nickelodeon episodes

The Nickelodeon series is yet to air, and as such this information might change. As such, this section is based on information that has been released on the Nick.com page on Making Fiends.

  • Despite the fact that both versions use Adobe Flash to create animation, the television episodes are cleaner-looking. This is probably because the characters and backgrounds in the Web episodes were made of overlapping JPEG files. Also, the colors still go outside the outlines, but it seems more like a second outline than messy drawing.
  • The character Maggie (who only had one line of dialog in the whole Web series) has been expanded on, and given a developed personality. Mort, another character, is created.
  • Charlotte's grandmother, Charlene, is introduced in the TV series.
  • Vendetta's parents, Violeta and Viktor, are named but do not appear.
  • The town the show takes place in is given the name of Clamburg, after Vendetta's favorite food (clams).
  • Grudge, Vendetta's hamster, has a slightly fatter look in the series.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Every page has a hidden message near the top, which can be seen by being highlighted.
  • Nearly every secondary character's first name starts with the letter 'M', believed to be because of her previous work, Muffin Films.
  • In the original home page, behind the bush in the bottom-left corner of the main menu is a small red cat (or a piece of candy corn during Halloween).
  • In the original home page, the bush in the bottom-right corner of the main menu can be clicked on.
  • Aglaia Mortcheva is from Bulgaria.
  • A 'vendetta' is "a bitter, destructive feud" (definition from Dictionary.com).
  • Occasionally simple, gruesome drawings can be seen in the background with a small message written with them. They appear to be alphabet-teaching posters, but feature such inspiring thoughts as "A is for alimony", "C is for communism," and "D is for Dictator".
  • A picture of muffins can be seen in the back of the classroom, a reference to Muffin Films.
  • Most of the textures used to make walls, the sky, grass, etc. are .jpeg files overlapping one another.
  • All of the human characters besides Malachi and Marvin wear what looks like dresses or muumuus.
  • Most of the time, when Vendetta reads magazines, they are entitled "Spite," or, "Mean." In episode eleven inside the cat's stomach, the magazine is entitled "Mad Cat" and has a picture of the giant cat's face.

[edit] The 2005 April Fool's Day episode

All episodes are in English with the exception of episode 17, which was recorded in Bulgarian. When first released, the episode was entirely in Bulgarian, and received many complaints in the guestbook. After a couple of days, subtitles were slapped on. The subtitles feature translations that are laughably substandard (Marvin can be seen crying "ice cream of mine!" instead of the expected "my ice cream!") when they are not completely superfluous (as for translated clock ticks and screams). Episode 17's hidden text (viewed by highlighting at the top) says "Den da shegata!", which is Bulgarian for "April Fool's".

[edit] The 2006 and 2008 April Fool's Day episodes

In the days leading up to April Fool's Day in 2006, a message was posted on the front page saying that a fiend was to be temporarily placed in charge of the site. On April Fool's Day, the main menu had a bite taken out of it, and the fiend was there to explain that he got hungry and ate some episodes, but fixed them. As a result, five episodes were replaced with alternate versions, each featuring a major mistake.

The pranks did not reappear in 2007, but returned in 2008.

[edit] Episode 20

In this episode most of the main characters escape being devoured by fiends by boarding a giant boat. Those who are not seen on the escape boat are;

  • Charlotte's family, who are briefly mentioned in episode 4
  • Rubella
  • Many of Vendetta's fiends, including:
  • Vendetta's parents as mentioned on nick.com

The giant cat is not on the boat for obvious reasons, but is seen wading away. Buttons 2 is very hard to spot, but he is seen at the very top of the sailboat.

[edit] Marvin

Marvin usually starts his sentences with "my." There are two exceptions - the April Fool's episode (above) and A Wonderful Wintery Day where he sings the second line of the song.

[edit] Holiday Specials

VENDETTA'S EXPLANATION OF THE RULES: Help me to hit Charlotte with pumpkins, 30 times. Do not be fooled by her stupid disguises!

CHARLOTTE'S EXPLANATION OF THE RULES: Vendetta said she'd give me lots of pumpkins, I can't wait! Help her by clicking on me with your mouse when ever I appear. Ooh! And I'm gonna dress up in costumes, beacause that's fun!

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Internet Archive Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Internet Archive Wayback Machine

[edit] External links